


Born to Have Adventure

by DidelphisVirginiana



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, High School, Love at First Sight, Teen Romance, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-10 10:35:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15947594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DidelphisVirginiana/pseuds/DidelphisVirginiana
Summary: Fox Mulder was done with high school. Not actually done with it, but mentally he was over the whole concept. Until he sees a redheaded transfer student come into his U.S. History class. Maybe the rest of his time here will be more tolerable after all.High School AU.





	1. I've Just Seen a Face

**Author's Note:**

> General A/N: I love high school AUs, they're so cute. Rated mature for later chapters (underage smoking, drinking, etc. just to be safe), and I added the 'Underage' warning for a later chapter so I don't get axed by the AO3 police, but that won't be for awhile. Tags, characters, etc. will be added as they show up. Enjoy!

It was the first day of the second semester of his junior year. At this point, quite frankly, Fox Mulder was done with high school. Not _actually_ done with it, but mentally he was over the whole concept. Over the classes, the announcements every morning, getting called down to the principal’s office, who’s name who he never really learned. He had a bad habit of talking back to the history teacher, Mr. Skinner, and always ended up in that office that smelled like stale smoke. He was over Alex Krycek, that prodigy track star who thought the ability to run fast gave him an excuse to bully the shit out of Mulder and his friends.

At least he had them.

Ringo Langley and John Byers were in the same grade, but Melvin Frohike was a senior. He was held back a year, so he was able to buy them all cigarettes. He figured the stress of that alone had something to contribute to his thinned out hair and dark widow’s peak. They smoked the cigarettes in John’s mom’s garage when they got together for Dungeons and Dragons on Saturdays. This campaign was about aliens invading the world, something Mulder came up with.

He walked down the hall to his locker, twisting the lock until it popped open. He threw his lunchbox in there for later. There was no way in hell he was eating this school’s food. It was disgusting at best.

He reached into his pocket with pursed lips to pull out a crumpled piece of paper to see what the first day had in store for him. He audibly sighed when he saw it was U.S. History with Mr. Skinner. There had to be more history teachers! He already had him once, now again? Times like this made him wish he was homeschooled. Then again, that isn’t too feasible with divorced parents.

He threw his backpack — mostly empty except for one notebook and a couple of old pens — over one shoulder and adjusted his baseball cap before heading down the hall. Immediately he saw John, Ringo, and Melvin huddled in a circle on the other side of the hall, all with their schedules out. He smirked as he ran up to them, aggressively elbowing Melvin and Ringo to make room for himself. 

“What’s up, losers?” Ringo gave him a playful punch to his forearm before John chimed in. “We’re comparing schedules to see if we have any classes together. Last semester didn’t go as planned, so we’re hoping all of us have at least one class together. We just couldn’t find you.”

Mulder rolled his eyes, pointing directly down the hall at his locker. “I was right there, dipshits.” He said blankly before breaking out into a grin. 

Melvin sighed, exasperated before snatching everyone’s paper schedules and flipping through them. He nodded curtly. 

“Well, everyone, it looks like we get Chemistry together.”

John looked at Melvin, his eyebrow cocked, “You’re taking Chemistry again?” Melvin shot him a look, and John merely shrugged, not needing anymore of an explanation. Mulder was swaying on his feet now, looking over at his schedule. “I don’t remember signing up for speech class.”

Ringo laughed, “Are you afraid they won’t let you talk about Bigfoot?” Mulder returned the earlier punch just as the warning bell went off, making them all sigh. Students, who cared much more about being on time, began rushing through the halls, and Mulder snatched the piece of paper from Melvin before nodding at them. 

“I’ll see you assholes at lunch?”

“Same table in the corner as always!” Melvin called out to him as he started walking towards Mr. Skinner’s classroom. He entered and was immediately met with “the look” Mr. Skinner always gave him. It was sort of the look his dad gave him when he saw the letter from the principal citing how many classes he skipped. 

“Hello, Fox. Glad to see you made it on time, early even.” Mr. Skinner said with a bit of a forced smile. Mulder wasn’t too receptive.

“I don’t go by Fox, you know that.”

Mr. Skinner shook his head, “You’re not an FBI agent, Fox, I’m using your first name and you’re going to respond to me when I call on you,” he paused “Which will be often. Participation is a part of your grade in this class.”

Mulder rolled his eyes before walking towards the back of the row, barely missing an attempt from Alex trying to trip him.

“Not this time, Alex.” Mulder smirked, making him sneer at him. He took his seat and lackadaisically threw the worn notebook and pen on his desk and reclined in his seat, crossing his arms behind his head. He scanned the room for a second as more students shuffled in, and then he perked up at the sight of some of the fieriest red hair he had ever seen. Judging by the way they were dressed, it was a girl, wearing light blue jeans and a pastel blue sweatshirt, but she kept her head and eyes to the ground.

_New meat_ , he thought to himself. Probably a freshman who was some prodigy or a transfer student. He couldn’t take her eyes off of her as she made her way to the back, choosing to sit at the desk right next to him. He leaned in and forward a little bit, curious as to who this mystery girl was.

She clearly noticed, as her head snapped and stared him straight into his eyes. 

“Hello?” She said with a bit of feistiness behind her voice.

Then he saw her face and his mouth went dry. His whole body stiffened. She had baby blue eyes and pale skin and a dark coral lipstick and arched eyebrows waiting for an answer and Jesus fucking Christ she was beautiful.

“S-Sorry,” he finally choked out “I’ve just never seen you before. A-Are you a transfer?”

Her features immediately softened, and suddenly she became even more beautiful.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so aggressive,” she smiled at him, and he practically melted in his seat, “My name is Dana. I just transferred here. What’s your name?”

For a second he forgot his own damn name.

“It’s…uh…I’m Mulder. I just go by Mulder.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get anything out, the final bell rang and Mr. Skinner closed the door, now walking to position himself front and center of the classroom. 

She turned away, but he couldn’t keep his eyes away. She had a pristine notebook laid out, new pens, highlighters, and even white-out. That’s when he realized she was out of his league, at least academically.

“As most of you know, I’m Mr. Skinner,” he started, “and this semester we’re continuing where we last left off before Christmas break.” 

He looked to his side as Dana leaned in and whispered “Where did you guys leave off last semester?”

Mulder’s mind drew a blank and he shrugged. “I left my notes at home, I’ll bring them to you tomorrow if you want.”

She smiled at him again, her silent way of saying thank you before Skinner started doing roll. He methodically checked off each name as each student.

“Alexander Krycek?” Skinner asked, looking up.

Mulder looked over to Alex who was sitting up straight, “Present, sir. And I go by Alex.”

Skinner nodded at this, “Duly noted.” Mulder sneered at this. Only assholes say ‘present’ during roll call, as if they were in the army or something. 

He kept going down the list, and Mulder kept his head down until the moment finally came.

“ _Fox_ Mulder?”

Mulder loudly sighed “Here. I go by Mulder.” He repeated the earlier conversation, hoping an audience would have some sort of effect that would play in his favor. 

“Thank you, Fox.” Skinner continued without even blinking, making Mulder bury his face in his hands. 

Dana looked over at him without saying a word, biting her nail as she grinned. He gave her a defeated smile. He would have said something, but he didn’t feel like going to the principal’s office the first day of class for talking during roll call.

“Dana Scully?”, Skinner asked

Dana perked up, raising her hand, “Here, sir.” Skinner nodded at her, “I hope the transfer is easy for you, Dana.” Her face went pink and she nodded before speaking up quietly, “Yeah, me too.” Jesus H. Christ, everything about her was so infatuating. Her voice cut through him, but in a good way. It was like a song, and he hadn’t even really heard her talk at full volume. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this way about a girl, except for maybe Diana. But it didn’t compare, didn’t even hold a candle to the immediate attraction to this random ginger who just came into this hellhole of a school.

Skinner finished roll call then went straight into the lesson, which was focusing on the Industrial Revolution. Mulder wrote down some notes, basically copying whatever Skinner was writing on the chalk board, but he kept trying to steal glances at Dana. She was totally immersed, and had probably three times the amount of notes that he did, all of them color-coded and highlighted. It was kind of nerdy when he thought about it, but he still found it endearing. For the rest of the lecture he mostly just kept his head down and tried to keep up, and not get too distracted by the girl sitting next to him. 

Finally, after what felt like eternity of Skinner going on about machines and vertical economies, the bell rang. Now it was off to his Creative Writing class.

He got up and shoved everything in his desk haphazardly into his backpack, looking up to see Dana standing idly by her desk, biting her lip.

“What’s up?” He asked, trying to be as casual as possible. Keep it smooth, Mulder, keep it smooth. 

“I was just going to remind you to bring those notes from last semester to me next time? Just in case the tests are cumulative, I want to make sure that I’m ready.”

He smiled at her. She was the model student and he could barely write coherent bullet points. 

“Yeah, for sure, I can do that.” He nodded at her, and she smiled back, throwing her backpack over her back. He walked out of the classroom, but his mind didn’t leave. He was struck with how just…nice she was. He noticed her concentration face looked threatening, but when she was talking she looked almost angelic. God, why was he so enamored with this transfer student already?

—

Mulder’s Creative Writing class was nothing exciting. Just going over the syllabus, classroom rules, the whole expectations spiel. Technically it was a dual-credit class, so it was taught by an actual professor. At least it would be one less class he would have to take when he went off to college. If he went off to college. He still hadn’t decided yet. 

He grabbed his lunchbox from his locker and headed towards the lunchroom, trying to make his way through the crowd as quickly as possible. He towered over most of them, as his growth spurt Freshman year was less than subtle. Thankfully his voice stopped cracking the following summer. 

He finally made his way into the large room, and scanned it for the three familiar faces. And there they were. Huddled at the circular table in the far corner were Ringo, John, and Melvin. The table had been claimed by them ever since they became friends. Mulder and the rest found out pretty quickly the other kids didn’t like to talk about Dungeons and Dragons, aliens, cryptids, technology, any of that. So they formed their own little group of outcasts, although they were still well known by the rest of the student body. They just weren’t regarded as highly as, say, Alex or Diana. His short and semi-sweet relationship with Diana was the closest Mulder got to being “popular”, and it was just because of association. After their not-so-amicable breakup, Mulder went back to his infamous trio. 

He sat down next to John and began opening his lunchbox as Melvin spoke up.

“So, gentlemen, what’s the consensus on the first day so far?”

Ringo shrugged in response “Honestly, I’m thinking about dropping my computer and technology class. It’d be an easy A, but I was bored within the first 15 minutes.”

John swallowed half of his sandwich before speaking up, “I find my speech class to be pretty exciting, I’m just hoping I can get over my stage fright…” he nodded at Mulder, “Sad we didn’t get the same section.”

Mulder shrugged, “I think administration doesn’t want to cause these teachers anymore pain by having more than one of us in the same class. I do feel bad for that Chemistry teacher, though.” He smirked.

He stopped paying attention as soon as he saw the top of some red hair come into the lunchroom. There was Dana, again. And they shared the same lunch block. He tried to hold back an excited smile as he watched her. She held her rather ragged-looking pink lunchbox in her hand as she scanned the room, her expression was the epitome of “Deer in the Headlights”. He couldn’t blame her, she was new and probably had no idea where she would fit in, especially in such a large room. Then he heard Melvin speak up.

“Dear Jesus, who is _that_ pretty little thing?”

Mulder shot him a look before biting back, “Her name’s Dana, she’s in my history class.” His tone came off much more aggressive than what was necessary for such a simple statement. Melvin put his hands up in mock defense and Ringo grinned at him.

“She’s new meat and you’ve already got a claim on her? Not gonna give any of us chivalrous guys a chance?”

Mulder rolled his eyes, “I didn’t imply that, I’m just saying I met her,” he paused, “She’s really nice.”

He looked back over to her, and she was still standing still, but now her face was washed of all color. He felt a twinge of pain in his chest for her, remembering the exact feeling on his first day of high school. He wanted to help her out.

“Hey, Dana!” Mulder yelled out, hoping his voice would carry across the loud commotion of congregated teenagers.

Her head immediately snapped in his direction, and she visibly sighed in relief before speed- walking towards the table, keeping her head down. She took the empty seat next to him, giving him a small smile.

“I think you just saved my life Fo— Mulder,” she corrected herself, thankfully, “I almost fainted when I saw how big this place was.”

He grinned at her, shifting in his seat a little. Then he looked up to see the other three staring at her with blank faces, except for Melvin who had a slight smirk. Now Mulder was getting a bit apprehensive about inviting her to the lunch table.

“Uh, Dana, these are my friends. That’s John, Ringo, and Melvin. “As you can probably tell, we’re the most popular guys in school.” He gave her a small smirk, silently hoping his lame attempt at humor didn’t completely bomb.

“Very nice to meet you, Miss Dana. I think you’re the first redhead this school has had since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here awhile,” Melvin nodded at her, still smirking at her almost like a predator.

Ringo and John merely waved, as they clearly were unsettled by a female presence. They were the type to clam up around girls, and Mulder liked to believe it was Dana’s looks that intimidated them. At least he thought she was pretty. 

Dana smiled shyly back at them, looking down a little. “It’s nice to meet you guys. And thanks for letting me sit with you. I was terrified of sitting alone and being _that_ girl.”

Mulder chuckled at this, “Well, in that case you just made a huge mistake, because we,” he circled his finger around, referring to himself and all of his friends, “are, in fact, _that_ type.”

Dana merely shrugged at this, opening up her lunch box. “Considering I was strictly referred to as ‘The Ginger’ by my group in my English class, I don’t see myself adapting to the other social circles here,” she sighed “just how it was back at Catholic school.”

This caught all of their attention; a few raised eyebrows and stares.

“You came from a Catholic school to _here?_ ” Ringo asked, just as bewildered as the rest of them.

Dana nodded as she pulled out what looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Private Catholic school, Bishop Chatard. Your typical Catholic school, pretty small compared to this place. My family likes to stay in the faith, but when we moved here all the local Catholic schools had outrageous tuition, so we just decided on public,” she shrugged, looking down at the table, “If you see another redhead, that’s my sister Melissa. She’s a freshman so she’s at least got it easier than my brothers and I. Her hair is curly though, but that’s about the only difference between us.”

Mulder nodded, unable to take his eyes away from her. Ringo finally chimed in, “Dana, are you into tabletop games at all?” Mulder let out a quiet sigh at this, rubbing his brow.

She shook her head as she swallowed part of her sandwich, “No, but I guess I’ve never played them before. Why do you ask?” She looked at him, genuinely curious. Mulder turned his head to look directly at Ringo, giving him nothing short of a death glare. He wanted to come off at least somewhat socially acceptable to her, and he was quickly getting his cover blown.

“Well,” Ringo continued, “we all get together on Saturdays to play Dungeons and Dragons in John’s mom’s garage. If you’re not busy, you can come watch us play and when we start a new campaign you can join in!” He was grinning with genuine excitement now, and Mulder’s face was growing hotter by the second. Now his cover was completely blown, and any chance he had at trying to come off cool was just destroyed. 

Dana smiled shyly at him, “Well, it depends on what time, and I’ll have to ask my parents. I don’t have a curfew anymore, but they don’t like me staying out late. Plus, you’re all guys, so they might not be too privy to the idea.” She shrugged, taking another bite out of her sandwich.

“Then just lie, say there’s going to be a party with a bunch of other girls too,” John remarked blankly.

“John,” Mulder looked at him, “she’s Catholic. Lying isn’t really her thing.”

He suddenly felt a slap on his arm, and he looked over to see Dana giving him an incredulous look.

“I may be Catholic, but that doesn’t mean I’m not up for a bit of fun,” she was smiling at him now, “Stealing my mom’s cigarettes is one of my best skills, I’ll have you know.”

Mulder laughed at this, running a hand through his hair. Melvin leaned in, cocking his eyebrow, “So is that a yes to this Saturday?” 

Scully bit her lips, and Mulder noticed she had her concentration face on again. She tilted her head to one side, before nodding slowly.

“I’m sure I can swing it. Give me the address tomorrow? And do I have to dress up?”

They all chuckled at this, making her go bright red. Mulder shook his head, chuckling as he spoke, “No, just wear normal clothes. I think everyone would feel a bit awkward if you came dressed any other way than you are now.” 

She gave them a small smile before nodding. “Alright, sounds like a date,” she paused for a second, “Hey, can I see your guys’ schedules? I want to see if there’s going to be any familiar faces in my next few classes.”

They all immediately started rifling through their backpacks, handing the crumpled pieces of paper over to her as if they were a pack of obedient dogs bringing a ball back to its’ owner. She undid all of them and pulled out her own from her backpack, which was pristine and folded neatly in half. She began to scan over them, her eyes darting back and forth. Again, Mulder couldn’t take her eyes off of her until he felt a nudge from John who was giving him a smug smile. John was reading him like a damn book. In response, Mulder merely flipped him off.

“Hey, Mulder, look!” Dana exclaimed, grabbing his arm which made him go stiff, “We have forensics together!” She was grinning at him now, her eyes bright and filled with excitement. 

He couldn’t form a sentence, he was so caught off by her expression, her touch, her whole existence.

He was head over heels for this girl. And it was just the first day.


	2. Death Glares and Dead Bodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder runs into a familiar face in his Forensics class, but he's not excited about it.

Mulder was still riding on that high from Dana. That kind of high when you meet someone you just know is going to be important to you. Part of him thought he was over projecting the whole situation, maybe she was just a nice girl and he shouldn’t be so attached just yet. Not only that, he immediately drug her into his group of outcasts at lunch, forever killing her chance at possibly being popular. However, he picked up some of the subtleties she said at lunch and came to believe she didn’t really care about being popular. She was more concerned with school than anything else. But she was open to making friends, and if he made the right moves, maybe, just maybe, the two of them could be more than just friends. He hadn’t thought about romance or having a girlfriend or any of that since his last relationship, but Dana had sparked something totally new inside of him. He was determined to win her over. He didn’t know what it would take, but he was willing to try every possible avenue. I mean, come on, Dana was super excited to see they had the same class together. That’s two in the same day. He got to see her first thing in the morning, then at lunch, and then end the day with her. Everything was working out in his favor, he just had to make the right moves now. 

He looked up as Skinner slowly walked past him, who was glancing down at his blank notebook.

“Fox, are you going to use study hall to actually study or do I need to find another class for you?”

Mulder sighed at this, “No, sir, I’m just exhausted from this first day,” he reached over and grabbed his pen, beginning to write down a few random words.

Skinner raised his eyebrows, “You’re taking Creative Writing? Isn’t that dual-credit?”

Mulder nodded at him, “Yeah, we have to have a rough draft for a poem by tomorrow. I’m not too good at drafts though. I try to get everything right on the first try.”

Skinner sighed at this, “You know, Fox, that’s the thing about you. As much trouble as you cause me in class, you’re a bright student. You just need to apply yourself.”

Mulder nodded slowly, taking his hat off to brush his hands through his hair, “Yeah, my parents are on my ass about my attendance until they see my grades. And I’m taking a lot of dual-credits this semester, so hopefully that will look good for when I apply to college.”

Skinner smiled at him, “Glad to hear you’ve got plans,” he paused, “also watch your language. I’ll let it slide this time, but you know the rules: no profanity.”

Mulder merely shrugged, Skinner now walking away. He looked down at the blank page. Poetry? He didn’t even know where to start. They had gone over the basic structure of poetry, but he didn’t know what to write about. He could write about his sister, Samantha, how she disappeared and how much she missed him. But that would only fuel the fire for being called “Spooky” by everyone, which was just as annoying as being called by his first name. He could write about his friends, but that would be kind of cheesy. Plus there isn’t any flattering way to describe the odd, nerdy outcasts of the school. Could he write a poem about Dana? Would that be too creepy? He could keep it vague, make it not too obvious. Don’t mention her hair or her freckles, that would just be a dead giveaway. Maybe something a bit dark about unrequited love. After all, he wasn’t sure if he could classify it as requited on the first day back. He had just met her today, and maybe this boyish crush would fade. He started writing down some buzzwords.

 

_Eyes._

_Touch._

_Warmth._

 

Then his brain stopped there. He was overthinking this already. He was going to come off as a sap to his entire class, which would just hurt his reputation more. Plus, once word got around, who knows how much the jeering and nicknames would increase. He audibly sighed, clicking his pen. He would just wait until he got home to work on it. He just had to figure out how to kill the last few minutes of this study hall. Then it was off to Forensics, another dual credit, with Dana. Maybe he would save a seat for her. Or she might find someone else to talk to. She probably wanted to expand her social horizons, especially after meeting the freak show that was made up of John, Ringo and Melvin. He bit his lips, staring off into space until the bell finally rang. He immediately shot out of his chair and shoved everything in his bag, now determined to catch Dana before anyone else did. 

He rushed out and managed to be the first one out of the library. Luckily he was able to walk faster than the rest of the students due to how long his legs were, and took the stairs down into the basement. 

The basement always had this musty, kind of moldy smell that put him on edge. It just so happened to be where all of the science and math classes were, so he had to put up with it every semester. The first few times he went down there during his Freshman year, he was unnerved by how dark and smelly the place was. Now he was just used to it. Plus, the body odor from the jocks would usually permeate the hallways. He turned the corner and slammed right into a stationed body. He took a step back, looking down. 

Of course, it was Dana. She had fallen to the ground with a groan, so he silently hooked his arm around hers and jousted her up onto her feet. After lifting her, he realized how small she was. She turned around to look him, giving him a playful glare.

“What, you’re going to body slam me on my first day? Doesn’t that count as hazing?”

He smiled at this, “No, I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t expect all of this.” He motioned ahead of them, a large group of kids congregating in front of the classroom. The door was closed and there was no sign of an adult anywhere. Everyone was just standing around.

Dana smiled up at him, “I think we’re all just waiting for the teacher to show up. You figure everyone would be prepared for the first day of class.” She shot him a playful look, “Mr. ‘I only brought a notebook and a single pen’.”

He scoffed at her, waving his hand, “C’mon, it’s the first day, I don’t even know what supplies I need yet.”

This made her roll her eyes, mouthing _whatever_ at him before smirking. He returned the smirk, now looking up at the crowd ahead of him. He audibly sighed as he saw Diana, standing ahead in the crowd, looking back at him dead in the eyes. He pursed his lips together and looked the other way, still feeling his eyes bore into him.

“Who’s that?” Dana asked innocently, getting on her toes to meet eyes with Diana who just scoffed and turned to face ahead.

“That,” Mulder began with an exasperated sigh, “is Diana Fowley. She’s my ex-girlfriend. Let’s just say things didn’t end well between us and now we make it a point to avoid each other. Seems like that won’t be happening this time.”

Scully looked up at him, her head tilted to one side, “Well, whatever happened, she should probably just get over it. I mean, it’s just high school, you know?”

This made him gulp with realization. Did she think that high school relationships weren’t worth it, weren’t meaningful? He decided to look down at her and just shrug. 

Finally the door opened, and standing there was a black man with a very, very furrowed brow.

“Come in.” Straight and to the point. His voice was deep, and he already sounded irritated.

They all began to shuffle in, making a tight squeeze. Mulder got a whiff of honey and vanilla, blinking a few times before he realized how close he was to Dana and that he was unconsciously smelling her hair. _Wow, not creepy at all,_ he thought to himself. Regardless, he followed closely behind her, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Diana who was already seated and still staring him down. Thankfully, they found a black-topped lab table that was in the back, still empty. Dana hopped up into the chair and set her backpack on the one next to her. Mulder decided to follow suit, and sat across from her. He met her eyes, and gave her a smile. 

“Do you have something about sitting in the back of the class?” She asked him, a bit of playfulness behind her voice.

“Hey, I followed you, and you sat in the back row in history class too. I just don’t like being called on if I can help it.” 

She laughed and shook her head at this, now opening up her backpack to bring out another pristine notebook with pens, highlighters; all the same things from Skinner’s class. It was cute how she believed she needed all of this on the first day. Most of his classes had just been icebreakers except for Skinner’s. Then again, that man was all about efficiency. 

He looked up as the teacher walked to the front of the room and began writing his name on the chalkboard, talking as he wrote “My name is Mr. Xavier, and in this class we’ll be studying Forensic science. Some of this stuff will be fairly gruesome,” he turned to face the class, “so if you have a sensitive stomach, I would recommend an art class.” This gained a few chuckles from around the room, but Mulder and Dana merely exchanged a look then simultaneously shrugged. If he wasn’t squeamish, then neither was she apparently.

Mr. Xavier continued, “However, today, we’re just going to go around the room and introduce ourselves. Just say your name, what year you’re in, and an interesting fact about yourself.” 

Mulder had to stifle a groan. He hated these things, and he had been doing them all day. He just wanted to go home already. This was his last class and he wanted a nap. Slowly, everyone went around the room and said their little piece, Mulder scribbling in the corner of a notebook page as they did. He recognized most of their faces, but had no interest in getting to know too many more people. Finally the room looped around to Dana. Her face went a bit pink as all eyes went on her, including Mulder who decided this was the only one that mattered to him.

She cleared her throat before speaking, “Uhm, My name is Dana Scully, I’m a junior and…” she trailed off for a second, “I guess an interesting fact about me is that I have three siblings. One sister and two brothers.” She nodded. Mulder watched her, she let out a long, relieved sigh. She clearly hated these as much as he did.

Then all eyes were on him, “Hey, my name is Mulder. I’m also a Junior. My interesting fact is that Mulder isn’t my first name, but you should call me that anyways.” He ended his statement with a smirk as he leaned back in his chair. Most people had resigned to calling him Mulder, or “Spooky” at this point anyways, so he figured he could make the last part easy. 

“Alright, thank you everybody. While this isn’t totally professional, I’ve got some business to attend to, so for today you’re lucky,” he paused, his eyes scanning the room, “You can all leave early, just make sure to grab these passes,” Mr. Xavier held up a stack of pink slips with a scribbled signature on them, “and give them to the secretary before you go do…whatever it is you’re going to do.”

Mulder grinned. This guy was pretty intimidating, but anyone who lets him get out of class early gets to be on his good list. He looked to Dana who was clearly bewildered. She leaned in and whispered under her breath, concern clear as day in her voice, “I wonder what he has to do that’s so important?” Mulder shrugged in response “I’ll be honest, I don’t want to know, and I don’t really care. I’m just read to go home.” 

Dana smiled at him, shoving her supplies back into her backpack. She looked up at him as she spoke, “Hey, do you have any plans tonight?”

Mulder merely shook his head, averting his gaze. He wanted to come off as nonchalant, but hopefully not disinterested.

He glanced over to see Diana giving Dana nothing short of a death stare. She apparently overheard her. But Dana didn’t notice, she merely hopped down and threw her backpack on in one fluid movement. Mulder slid off the chair, opting to carry his notebook and pen this time, gently shouldering Dana towards the front of the classroom. 

“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” 

Dana led the way, grabbing two slips and handing one to him, and they walked out of the classroom. He followed behind her closely, going up the stairs before she stopped in the middle of the hallway.

“Wait…how do you get to the secretary’s office from here?” She looked back at him, a confused expression painted on her face. 

He smiled at her gently, “I’ll show you.” He instinctively went out to grab her hand before his brain caught up with him and he snatched his hand back. That was too forward, and much to his chagrin, she noticed. She smiled meekly, looking down at his hand as she followed behind him. They went through a few hallways before they came to the office, which was crowded with kids from their class already. From what he could see, the secretary was sweating bullets, trying to make sure they were all real and not forged. Mulder had forged some of these excuses himself in the past, admittedly.

He began to walk up to the doors, but instead decided to idly look at the sports and club sign-up sheets that were posted on the outside wall to kill some time. His eyes scanned them: Writing Club, Robotics (which Ringo had been the first to sign up for), Debate club. Then he saw baseball. He raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t played baseball since he was in middle school, and he never gave a reason as to why he stopped. He was pretty good at it, at least when he was younger. Then he saw it scribbled on one of the lines:

 

_Alex Krycek_

 

“Oh, oh hell no,” he said out loud.

Dana looked at him, a mix of shock and confusion on her face, “What?”

“That asshole Alex thinks he’s going to play baseball?”, Mulder said primarily to himself, grabbing his pen and walking up to the clipboard, “I’ll show these losers how to play baseball.” He wrote his name in obnoxiously big letters then looked at the top of the clipboard. Try-outs started next week. Good, it would give him time to get back into the motion of things. 

Dana looked at him, biting her lips while trying to suppress a smile. “How’re you going to balance Dungeons and Dragons with baseball, Mulder?” He looked down at her with a devilish grin. 

“What, I can’t be an athletic loser?”

This made Dana roll her eyes with a sigh, “You’re not a loser, trust me. You should’ve seen me in Catholic school?”

He gave her a look, raising his eyebrows, unable to wipe the previous grin off of his face “You mean with a plaid skirt and stockings?”

Dana glared at him, before slapping his arm. “Please, they didn’t have a skirt small enough for me, it looked like I was wearing a dress.” 

Mulder merely shrugged, finally leading them into the office. The idea of Dana in a Catholic school girl uniform was pretty arousing, if he was being honest with himself. Dana handed her slip to the secretary who merely slapped it into a large, messy pile. The secretary didn’t even bother to look at her. She did, however, look up at Mulder. 

“Give me one reason I should believe this one is actually signed by a teacher and not you.”

Mulder handed it to her, “Come on, Mrs. Smith, it’s the first day, cut me some slack? I don’t start my usual shenanigans until at least midterms.”

Mrs. Smith sighed, grabbing a random slip from the pile and comparing them. She nodded slowly.

“Alright, Fox, I’ll take it this time. One less call I have to make today.”

Mulder gave her a charming smile, “Thank you so much, Mrs. Smith.” 

Dana giggled at this as she walked out of the front doors, making Mulder practically run after her. “Hey, Dana, wait up!” 

She whipped around to look at him, stopping in her tracks. She tilted her head at him. God, she was so cute when she did that.

“Do you, uhm…want me to walk you home? Or give you a ride? Like I said, I don’t have any plans. My car is parked just over there.” He asked, his shaky voice betraying him as he pointed towards a filled parking lot to the side of the school. But she smiled him. A real, genuine smile. 

“I don’t live far from here, so I won’t make you waste the gas, but sure. You can walk me home,” she bit her lips, blinking at him, “Thanks.” 

He smiled back at her, beginning to follow her down the road and past the school building. He tried to wrack his brain to come up with some sort of conversation so the walk wasn’t awkward and silent the entire time.

“So, Dana, what’s the consensus on your first day of public school?” This seemed to be the only thing he could think of, apparently. But she looked back at him and shrugged in response.

“It wasn’t too bad. I’m glad I was able to, as my mom says, ‘find my tribe’ pretty quickly,” she shot a smile at him, making him go a bit pink in the cheeks, “Even though you guys aren’t the most well-liked people. As long as I don’t get food thrown at me, I think I’ll be okay.”

Mulder chuckled at this as he walked beside her now, “That only happened to us once, and it was because Melvin mouthed off to Alex Krycek. I forget what the whole damn thing was about, but I ended up getting ranch on my face,” he paused, “And that’s the story about why I hate ranch dressing.”

Dana put her hand over her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter, “Well, hopefully things will be a bit more peaceful this semester.”

Mulder nodded, and they took the rest of the walk in silence. However, he noticed it was a comfortable silence. The only downside was that Dana had to put in twice as much effort to keep up with him, even though he was walking as slowly as possible. Apparently the height difference really did make that much of an impact. He also realized his chance at coming up with an excuse to hang out with Dana was dwindling with every step.

She took a corner and through the yard of a rather large, colonial-style house. It was huge, probably the biggest in the neighborhood. Then again, she did say that she had a multitude of siblings, so they probably purchased it more for practicality rather than luxury. Mulder started to slow down, wondering if he should follow her up to the porch. She looked back at him and laughed, “Don’t worry, we don’t have an attack dog or anything.”

Mulder nervously chuckled at this and followed her up the steps to the front door and stood next to her. He swallowed. What now?

“Hey,” she suddenly chimed in “don’t forget those notes tomorrow, okay?” She was looking up at him now, biting her lips.

Mulder scratched the back of his head, nodding at her, “I can’t promise that they’ll be the best notes ever taken, but they should be able to get you through. I just hope you can read my handwriting.”

Dana laughed at this. She looked up at him, her eyes a bright blue now illuminated by the afternoon sunlight, “As long as I can pass the test, I think I’ll be okay,” she paused, looking away now, “Well, uhm…thanks for walking me home, Mulder. It’s was really nice of you to do that. See you tomorrow?” She looked back up at him, her smile shy and hopeful.

He immediately nodded, “Definitely,” he began to walk down the steps, “and I _promise_ I’ll bring those notes. If I don’t, feel free to beat me up,” he paused, “Also, don’t forget about D&D on Saturday!”

Dana laughed loudly at this, waving goodbye to him as she called out “I don’t think I could beat you up even if I wanted to! And I’ll talk to my parents!”

He waved back, grinning now. He started walking back towards the school, unable to stop smiling. He couldn’t wait for Saturday. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it wasn't obvious, Mr. Xavier is supposed to be X. He probably called class off early to go do whatever that man does. Probably some scary shit. Sorry that this is sort of a filler chapter, more excitement and high school debauchery is on the way. As always, feedback is appreciated and greatly loved! -Kelso


	3. Dungeons and Dragons and Drinks and Dana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday night means D&D. This time Dana joins. Fun, light-hearted, kinda goofy with some drunk fluff sprinkled in.

Mulder was seated at the wood-top table in John’s garage, looking over his character sheet idly. He was doing it to give off the image that he was deep in thought about tonight’s campaign. In reality, he was anxious and excited to have Dana come over tonight. It was a chance to see her out of the confines of school, and he couldn’t explain, it but it excited him beyond belief. On the flip side, he was anxious, because there was a larger chance he could say or do something that would make him come off as an asshole or a creep, or something.

“Hey, boys, look what I was able to finagle!” Melvin’s voice brought him out of his worried thinking as he looked up. He saw two bags, each of which were set on the table. Mulder raised his eyebrows in curiosity. Ringo immediately tore them open, the first one being their staple: a carton of Marlboro Reds. Mulder snatched the carton from him and opened it up, grabbing the first pack and tearing into it, using one hand to shuffle through his pocket for his lighter. 

“Good, I need one of these.” Mulder said out loud, but mostly meant for himself.

“Why, so you can come off as the cool bad boy of D&D to your new girlfriend?” Ringo teased him, making Mulder furrow his brow.

“No, because it gets me in the zone to kick some alien ass.” Mulder shot back, lighting up the cigarette, “Besides, Dana will probably realize how gross we all are and leave early.”

This made Melvin click his tongue as he picked up the other bag. Out of it he pulled out a half-gallon of Old Crow. Everyone besides Melvin made a wrenching noise.

“You have a fake I.D. and you buy us Old Crow? What kind of Dungeon Master are you?” Byers practically cried out.

“This is the epitome of Chaotic Evil.” Ringo said, his face squeezed in disgust just by looking at the bottle. 

Mulder sighed in resignation, “If we mix it with some Coke maybe it won’t be as bad.” He took a long a drag off of the cigarette, watching Melvin shake his head.

“It may be painful, but it was cheap. You either get good smokes or good booze, we can’t have both with our budget. Can I at least get a ‘you’re welcome’ for the Reds?” Melvin held his arms out expectantly, staring the three of them down.

As soon as Mulder opened his mouth to retort back, the door leading from the house into the garage they were all currently sitting in opened. They all jumped, John snatching the bottle of whiskey and hiding it under the table.

It was Dana.

They all sighed in relief, Melvin leading her in, “Sorry, we thought you were John’s mom,” He said, before dropping his voice into a whisper, “She lets us smoke, but she won’t let us drink, and I just _very kindly_ bought everyone some liquid courage. 

Dana laughed quietly at this, and Mulder looked up to see she was carrying a paper grocery bag. “Well, nobody told me that tidbit of information, so I snatched some things that hopefully we can all share.” She gave a devilish smile, her eyes flickering to Mulder who exhaled his smoke slowly before speaking up.

“Well, let’s see?”

Dana quickly closed the door behind her, looking at John, “By the way, John, your mom is really nice!” She said this casually as she set the bag in the middle the table, John slowly putting the bottle of Old Crow back into visibility. Dana looked at it, making a face of disgust.

“Oh…well thank god I showed up.” She remarked, getting on her toes to reach into the bag. They all gasped. It was a pristine, unopened bottle of Absolut. She reached in again and held two six packs in her hands: one of Sprite, the other of Budweiser. They were all stunned into silence, making her throw her head back and laugh. 

“I know I appear to be the picture child of Catholic school girl, but I have older brothers that are easy to blackmail.” She smirked, laying them down on the table. Mulder merely glanced at the pile of liquor on the table before glueing his eyes to her. Dana was tying her hair back into a messy bun, shrugging off her jacket. She was wearing a Bob Dylan t-shirt and it clung to her body, which allowed his eyes to scan her figure appreciatively. 

Melvin clapped his hands together, “All we need is some glasses, a bottle opener, and we’re good to go,” he looked to Dana, “and you’re just observing tonight, correct?”

Dana smiled innocently, “If by observe you mean drink and smoke in a garage with a bunch of boys and partially pay attention to what’s going on, then yes.”

Mulder stood up and looked over to see Ringo and John staring blankly at him. They were waiting for his next move. He gulped as he got up and grabbed a folding chair against the wall, propping it up next to his own. “Here you go, Dana, you can sit next to me.”

She merely smiled at him, plopping down into the chair, brushing some strands of hair behind her ear before pointing to his pack of cigarettes. “Hey, can I bum one of those?”

“Y-yeah, of course,” Mulder said before she could barely finish her question, sliding one out of the pack and handing it to her. He watched closely as she placed it between her lips, and then he decided to do the smoothest thing he’s ever done to a girl. He flicked his lighter on and held it up to the end of her cigarette with a boyish smirk. 

“Pretty girls never light their own cigarettes.” His voice didn’t crack, shake, anything. _Fucking classic,_ he thought to himself.

Dana took a long drag, not breaking eye contact with him. As soon as she exhaled, she shot back with the unexpected, “So you think I’m pretty?” She was smirking now, “Are you coming onto me, Fox Mulder?”

In an instant, his face was on fire, and the redness was clearly visible because it made the other three monkeys known as his friends bust out into laughter. His smooth moves didn’t elicit the expected response, and now he regretted ever opening his mouth. His throat was dry and he sucked on his lips for a second.

“It took you until now to notice?” Ringo said, trying to hold back his laughter. Mulder slowly looked back at him in disbelief, his face still on fire. Then he looked back to Dana.

“It was just…uh…I just heard it somewhere before and I just…I mean I don’t think you’re ugly!” He choked out, Dana’s head now tilted and her eyes boring into him, “I just thought it would be polite…and yeah, I would probably categorize you as pretty.” He barely whispered the last part, looking away, immediately grabbing a beer and twisting the cap off with his shirt inside of his fist. He took a sip and glanced back at Dana, who was looking down, her face now just as red as his. Now there was this awkward silence between them, because she _definitely_ heard the last part. 

To break the tension, Melvin set some glasses in front of each person, “Some glasses for all of you, that way we can enjoy a multitude of drinks at once,”

Mulder watched as Dana grabbed a beer and leaned back in her chair with a soft smile, cracking it open before taking a few sips. She playfully glanced at Mulder, meeting his eyes for a second before taking a short puff off of her cigarette.

“So, exactly how does this all work? Like how do you play?” She asked, looking between the table filled with dice, character sheets, the whole lot.

“How about you explain it to her, Mulder?” John said in a flat tone, though it was clearly meant to be teasing. This made Mulder sigh, taking a long drag off of his cigarette. He grabbed the bottle of Old Crow and pried it open, pouring himself a shot.

“Well,” he started, choosing not to look at Dana even though he could feel her eyes on him, “It’s a tabletop role-playing fantasy game. You have your players, which right now are John, Ringo, and myself. Then, you have the Dungeon Master,” he motioned to Melvin, who smiled proudly, “who sort of like…controls how the game goes, decides what situations we get into. When we roll the dice, depending on what number we get, he chooses what the outcome of our action is.” Mulder took a breath, “You can really make the setting whatever you want. I came up with this one,” he said with a smug smile, “It’s about aliens invading the earth, and we’re a team fighting back as the resistance.”

Dana nodded slowly, reaching over to crack open the vodka with the cigarette dangling out of her mouth, “So,” she started, pouring her full with equal parts Absolut then a can of Sprite, “it’s sort of just like a group story? Where are you guys right now?” She looked up as she threw back half of the glass, making Mulder raise his eyebrows. Now that was impressive. 

“We’re about to invade a crashed UFO, which we believe might have some surviving aliens on it. I’m hoping to loot some of their technology.” Ringo smirked as he caught her up, adjusting his glasses. Now he was pouring himself a shot of the rancid whiskey, throwing it back. Mulder mirrored him. He didn’t feel like getting blackout wasted, but he also didn’t want to be the only semi-sober one in the garage tonight. He looked over to see Dana already pouring herself some Old Crow and immediately throwing it back, gagging as it slid down her throat.

“Dear Jesus, that stuff is vile.” She said, her face scrunched in disgust.

Melvin merely shrugged, still determined to defend his decision, “It gets you drunk quick. It’s all about efficiency on Saturdays.” He paused, looking up at the three men, “So are we ready to play?” They all nodded, Mulder setting his pencil and character sheet in front of him. Dana leaned over, her face right next to his as she scanned the piece of paper in front of her.

“So this is your character?” She asked innocently, using her hand to balance herself on his arm. She was definitely doing this on purpose now. He shouldn’t have said anything. Byers took the first action, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He was more concerned with the redhead who was two inches away from his face. 

He gulped, realizing she was waiting for an answer, “Yeah, so my alignment is chaotic neutral. What that basically means is when I make decisions or make a move, I do it for my own benefit whether it be good or bad for everyone else.” 

This made her laugh, “That’s funny, I don’t really see you as that kind of person,” she grabbed her drink, taking a large gulp before coughing a bit, trying to cover her mouth.

“Well, we all took a test, and this was the result I got.” He merely shrugged, turning to look at her. Her face was already turning pink, and she was slowly sucking down that cigarette. Even if he only rolled ones, this was definitely going to go down as one of the best nights he’s played. He gets to see Dana Scully let loose, and that was the most thrilling thing to him at this moment. 

“Alright, Mulder, your move.” Melvin said in his faux-authoritative voice. He really only used this when he was Dungeon Master, sort of his way of feeling cool, Mulder suspected.

Mulder nodded slowly, “Alright, well, if we’re at the door of the UFO, I’m going to use my blaster to knock the door down. Full power.”

“No! You might damage something valuable inside!” Byers cried out, his voice going up a pitch to convey his real, genuine concern about the fictional UFO and its’ contents.

Mulder merely shrugged before rolling the dice. Sixteen. Melvin leaned over to peer at it and nodded. 

“Okay, so Luder blows down the door. Now, you guys go in and see that you’ve killed all but one surviving alien, but you’ve damaged most of their weapons as well. However, there are still some a couple weapons left, and the one alien left is willing to barter with you guys.”

The three boys all looked at each other and smirked, “Good job, Luder.” Ringo remarked.

Mulder nodded and sat back as Ringo made his move, looking over at Dana who was already pouring herself another drink, this one being more vodka than soda. He chuckled at this and leaned in, “What, is this not entertaining enough?”

Dana shook her head as she took a swig of it, chasing it with a sip of her Budweiser which was almost gone. How that happened he wasn’t sure.

“No, I just don’t get the chance to really have fun like this. I’m going all out tonight.” Her voice was already starting to slur. She was small enough that the alcohol in her system probably hit her a lot harder than the rest of them. She giggled at him, before resting her forehead on his forearm. He stiffened at this, not wanting to move, and barely catching the events of the game. John got a low roll while bartering with the alien and got ripped off; they traded a blaster for some sort of alien knife. Apparently it at least had some cool benefits, but Mulder wasn’t paying attention. He took down a double shot of the Old Crow now, his body beginning to feel warm. 

“M’lder, you make a good head rest, y’know that?” She slurred as she ashed her cigarette into the ashtray on the able. 

Before he got a chance to choke out some dumb reply or do something even more stupid, the door opened, and standing in it was John’s mom. 

“Oh, Christ. Guys, what have I told you? You can smoke in here but no drinking! You all drove here!” She placed her hands on her hips, “Everyone, give me your keys. Nobody’s driving tonight, and I’m not responsible for whatever excuses you have for your parents.” She held her hand out and they all groaned. Mulder pulled away from Dana, who held onto his arm for a brief moment, looking up at him with hazy, sad eyes. He pursed his lips, patting her shoulder as he grabbed his keys. He began to walk towards John’s mom, and suddenly everything seemed like it was in slow-motion. Apparently he was a lot drunker than he thought. He stumbled up to her and silently put the keys into her hands as she stared them all down. 

“Hey, Ms. Byers, can I use your phone?” Dana asked, her voice slurred but still somehow innocent. John’s mom merely sighed, motioning for her to come inside of the house. She looked back at the rest of the boys as Dana swayed into the house clumsily.

“You can finish your drinks inside. But I swear, if _any_ of it gets on the carpet, I’m telling all of your parents what really happened.”

The four of them all exchanged concerned looks before nodding at her silently. They sat there for a moment, Mulder taking a drag off of his cigarette. 

“Motion to end the game for tonight?” He looked up at them, beginning to see double.

“Agreed.” The three of them said in unison. They all slowly stood up, butting out their cigarettes. Ringo grabbed onto the table to balance himself. They began to grab all of the incriminating evidence of their short-lived night and made their way into the house. Mulder was holding onto his half-empty beer and the bottle of Absolut, which he took a large swig of. Waste not, want not. 

He began to follow the rest of them to the living room, where John’s mom had one of those wrap-around sectional couches with some ottomans. Those would probably be serving as his bed tonight, because he wasn’t going to walk home in this state. He could barely stand up for too long. He looked over to see Dana on the landline.

“I promise I’m fine, mom. I just want to stay the night at Stacy’s house tonight, I want to get to know the other girls at school. Please?” 

Mulder’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Her voice sounded seamlessly sober, not at all slurred or shaky, and she was flat out lying about the whole night altogether to her own mother. Were all Catholic girls like this?

“I promise I’ll be back tomorrow morning, mom, I have homework to do anyways.” She paused, her mother’s voice muffled on the other line, “No, I already told you, there’s no boys here. It’s just a bunch of girls I met in my classes. We’ve just been watching movies and listening to music, I _swear.”_ Dana folded her arms and looked at Mulder, rolling her eyes. She held the phone close as her mother’s voice got quieter. He kept his eyes on her the whole time, “Thanks, mom. I really appreciate it. I promise I won’t miss mass next Sunday, just this one time.” A quick pause, “Okay, love you, tell dad I love him, bye.” She blurted out the last bit before quickly hanging up the phone. She leaned against the wall and was sporting a proud smile.

Mulder was grinning ear to ear now, shaking his head, “I had you pegged wrong this entire time, Dana Scully. Totally wrong.” He paused, chuckling a bit, “And I don’t even think there’s a Stacy that goes to our school.”

She laughed loudly at this, stumbling forward as she came towards him, linking her arm around his, pulling him close with a surprising amount of strength. “I’m not the poster child for the Church, and I’ll never pretend to be.” She grabbed his beer from him, quickly chugging it right in front of him.

He scoffed in disbelief, shouldering her towards the living room, “That was mine!” _And that was incredibly hot._

She giggled at him, flinging herself onto the couch, “You have the vodka, I don’t want to hear any complaints.” She began to stretch out now, lying on her side. She looked up at him, and he looked down to meet her eyes. She looked like one of those magazine models, posing so naturally. Then she patted the ottoman in front of her, lying back a little.

“Come sit with me, we’re gonna be here all night anyways.” 

Mulder let out a shuddered breath and did exactly as he was told. He kicked off his shoes onto the floor and sat cross-legged on the ottoman, facing her. Behind him, Melvin and and Ringo were arguing over whether to watch reruns of Star Trek currently playing, or the Star Wars marathon that was on the other channel. John was talking to his mother, and both him and Dana looked over at the pair. 

“Johnathan, I put a lot of trust in you, and you really disappointed me tonight.” 

“I know, mom, I’m sorry. We just wanted to have some fun.

“And what if your friends all drove home and got hurt? Do you know what could happen?”

John merely shrugged at this, looking down in defeated silence. Mulder and Dana looked back at each other, and she bit her lip, raising her eyebrows.

“Oops.” Mulder muttered under his breath, stretching his legs out. They were too long to fully extend onto the couch, so he cocked his knees to the side, just barely touching Dana’s legs. Dana reached back at undid her hair, letting her tussled hair fall around her face. She brushed some of it back, before letting her head thud against the couch.

“Y’know, Mulder…you’re pretty handsome yourself.” She smiled at him, the redness of her face growing more prominent. 

Mulder brushed a hand through his hair before scratching his neck, trying to avoid eye contact. “Uhm, thanks. Sorry if I was too forward before.”

“You weren’t at all!” Dana practically yelled, placing her hands on his shoulders. This time he relaxed, reveling in her touch. “It was really sweet of you; you’re such a nice guy.” She ran a hand through his hair now, looking at him with drunk, hazy eyes and a lazy smile. 

He smiled back at her, resting his hand on her knee. “I’ll drive you home tomorrow. I’ll take everything back to my house so you don’t get into anymore trouble.” His thumb was rubbing her kneecap now, and his eyelids felt heavy, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. 

Out of nowhere, Dana hugged him tightly, giggling into his ear. “God, you’re such a gentleman! Who would’ve guessed?” She laughed again, before leaning in and pecking his cheek quickly, “Thank you, really.”

Mulder froze, but his face went red hot. He smiled back at her nervously, his body was trembling now. How badly he just wanted to grab her and really, _really_ kiss her. But they were both drunk, and he decided that, on second thought, it wasn’t such a good idea. 

“Fine, Star Wars it is,” Melvin sighed in defeat. Apparently John had interjected into the argument, and Mulder overheard something along the lines of ‘my house, my rules’.

Mulder finally reclined back now, facing the television to watch Luke Skywalker on the screen. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked back to see Dana looking right at him.

“Can we trade places? I can’t watch the movie, there’s a fox in my way.” She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes at the poor use of his first name, and he began to sit up to move behind her, but instead she clumsily crawled into his lap and splayed herself over his crossed legs like a dog. Now he definitely didn’t know what to do. When Diana would do this, there would usually be a blanket covering them, and he would be putting his fingers to good use between her legs. But this was Dana. And they weren’t dating. But she knew he thought she was hot, and vice versa. 

But.

But he was also drunk.

He watched the TV as he brushed her hair behind her ear, letting his knuckle trace the shape of her ear. He was starting to feel light headed, so he decided to lie down on his side behind her, propping his head up with his arm. He made a slow, calculated move to place his hand on her hip, just above the curve of her thigh. She didn’t say anything in return, but she adjusted so now her head was laying on his arm. She slowly arched her back, and her ass immediately met his crotch. God, now he was in trouble. He used every working brain cell to try and focus on the movie, getting distracted by the bottle of Old Crow — which was almost gone — that was being passed around. John handed it to Dana, who silently grabbed it and held it up to Mulder, closing her eyes. He took a long breath before finishing it off, hoping this paint thinner sold as whiskey would kill any blood from rushing down to his dick. 

Much to his chagrin, it didn’t. Damn the power of teenage hormones. 

The warmth of her ass felt so goddamn good, and she was so close to him. She smelled like smoke and booze, and it was disgustingly erotic to him right now. He tried to adjust himself so he wasn’t full on grinding into her. He looked down at her, to see that she was out cold. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she looked so angelic. Mulder tried bending his back so that his now full-blown hard on wouldn’t wake her up, and he kept his eyes glued to her face.

“Psst.” He heard, just above a whisper.

He looked up and saw Melvin who was giving him a thumbs up, while the other two assholes known as his best friends were grinning ear to ear. All of their faces were flushed; everyone had gotten hammered tonight in record time. And despite the campaign being cut short due to John’s mother, who was already more than lenient, it was a pretty good night. Mulder pointed to the last beer, then waving his hand, silently signaling to his friends that he got dibs on the last one. He smiled appreciatively as John slowly got up and crawled over to hand it to him. Mulder bit his lips as he fisted the cap, twisting it slowly while still trying to keep Dana’s head in place as to not wake her up. He pocketed the bottle cap as he took a gulp, resting on his side again. He was focusing on the television now, which was on a commercial break, until he noticed Dana stirring from her temporary nap. He looked down and practically jumped, throwing his body back a few inches while still successfully keeping his beer in hand.

“Dana, you awake?” He was asking the obvious, but he just wanted to be sure.

He watched as she turned over to face him, smiling at him before yawning.

“Yeah, just needed to close my eyes for a bit.”

He silently nodded and rolled onto his back, and grabbed a blanket hanging over the couch to cover himself up. He turned his head to see Dana looking at him with a sort of innocent puppy-dog look. 

“Can we share the blanket?”

Mulder gulped at this, but he slowly pulled the blanket over her. She sighed contently and closed her eyes again. Mulder took another sip of his beer, grabbing a pillow and handing it to her.

“You want this?”

She opened her eyes again to look up at the pillow, and gave him a small smile.

“You’re so sweet, Mulder. Thanks.” She took the pillow and placed it under her head, burying her face into it. He put his head back on the couch cushion, finishing off the beer in one swig. His whole body was warm now, both from the alcohol and the body heat from Dana. The whole situation was inherently intimate, but they had known each other for barely a week. They just got drunk together and now they were sleeping side by side. His head wasn’t clear enough to deduce whether he, she, or both of them would regret what transpired tonight tomorrow morning or not. 

He looked over and saw Dana was, again, out cold. He let out a small sigh and smiled, rolling over so his back was facing her. His friends were still watching Star Wars. He was drunk, his throat hurt, but regardless he was happy. Tonight had been good for what it was, teenage awkwardness and all. He closed his eyes and decided anything that went wrong tonight would be resolved tomorrow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have...no idea how D&D is actually played which is why I have my boyfriend beta this stuff. He also let me know the campaign is basically the plot of XCOMM, which I also know nothing about. Either way I had a really fun time writing this, and next chapter will be a 'morning after' type of deal and thus be a bit more serious (hopefully this chapter isn't too juvenile). Also I'm very well-versed in the "sounding sober on the phone" deal due to being a (now recovering) alcoholic, shout out to high school me. I also took the creative liberty to make Ms. Byers the "cool single mom" character. Also don't ever drink Old Crow. Take it from someone who would drink anything. As always, feedback is loved and appreciated! My twitter is @nb_baphomet so you can get updated on when a chapter is posted in real time. -Kelso


	4. I Can Try

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The early morning after from Dana's POV.

When Dana opened her eyes, it was still dark out. The room was illuminated by a television that was now playing infomercials on a volume just low enough where she could barely hear about the over-priced cleaning product. She sat up slowly, brushing her hair back as she looked around. She was on a couch, with one large body by her side that was sharing the same blanket she was under. Two others were on the floor, and one was on the couch curled up like a cat. 

This wasn’t her house.

She slowly and carefully peeled the blanket back to see who she had fallen asleep with. It was Mulder. She took in a sharp breath. It all rushed back to her. The walk over, the game. The drinking and the smoking. But that was it. She thought she was going to wake up in her own bed, but instead she was sharing a blanket with Mulder. She gulped.

Dana slowly sat up and slid off of the couch clumsily. She looked around the room and saw all of them were passed out cold. Beer bottles were scattered around, and the two larger bottles of Old Crow and Absolut were bone dry and sitting in the middle of the floor. She spotted an open, half-full pack of cigarettes at her feet. She remembered that Mulder had offered her a cigarette earlier on in the night. He said something to her, but she couldn’t remember. She reached down and grabbed one, heading over to her bag to pick out her lighter. She placed the cigarette between her lips and let it dangle there. She paused. Smoking was only allowed in the garage, right? She decided to play it safe and slowly turned the knob of the door leading into the garage. 

Living in a full house meant she had to learn how to sneak around quietly, and that included learning how to open and close doors silently. She left the door cracked open and stepped into the garage, turning on the dim overhead light. 

She sat in one of the fold-out chairs at the table and pulled the ashtray towards her. She lit the cigarette up and took a long, deep inhale. She had to try and remember what happened last night. A single girl waking up in a house with four boys wasn’t exactly the makings for something totally innocent. She still felt lightheaded and flushed, exhaling slowly. She was still fairly buzzed, but it felt like she slept most of it off. She curled up and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her hand immediately went to her chest and she sighed in relief. She still had her bra on. She began to mentally scan her body. She didn’t feel sore, hurt, or anything. Maybe it was her father’s paranoia rubbing off on her, but she did put herself in a situation where she could’ve gotten hurt. Then again, these guys seemed pretty harmless.

She relaxed a little, taking another puff. It’s not that she regretted it, she just couldn’t remember anything. She sighed defeatedly. She was a lightweight and she probably embarrassed herself in front of the only friends she had. One of them being Mulder. She nervously brushed her hand through her hair. 

She didn’t know how to flirt with boys, especially if said boy liked her. It sounded so juvenile, saying “like”. It didn’t seem to be the right word. She and Mulder had an instant connection, something she never had with another boy. She had tried: she held hands with boys back at Chatard, she kissed a few, but nothing compared. She hadn’t even done any of that with Mulder, but she wanted to. She was determined to. Eventually.

She took another long inhale, exhaling the smoke slowly. 

Dana had a crush on Fox Mulder, and she had no idea on how to act around him. She would clam up, she was afraid to be herself. She was afraid that if she did, he wouldn’t like her. On the other hand, she knew for a fact he was completely enamored with her. She was just hoping that last night she didn’t royally fuck up anything by getting what Missy called ‘white girl wasted’.

She remembered being forward with him at first. They weren’t at school, so she could be more flirtatious, so she tried. She just couldn’t remember if she nailed it or failed horribly. She crushed the cigarette into the ashtray, hugging her knees closer into her chest. 

She was angry now.

Her parents wouldn’t let her have a boyfriend like Mulder. For the sole reason he wasn’t Catholic. At least she didn’t think he was. He might be Jewish, she thought, which would be even worse in her parents’ eyes. They weren’t the most open-minded people, at least her father wasn’t. She sighed in defeat, pressing her head against her knees. She just wanted to date a boy she actually liked for once, not just one her parents approved of. Living in such religious confines was more of a pain in the ass than anything. Besides, the Catholic community here seemed even more strict and stuffy than the one in her home town. 

She leaned back a little now, stretching her legs out. She squinted a bit as a throbbing pain hit her head. She sighed quietly. Usually she was immune to the dreaded hangover, but given how much she drank paired with the nicotine buzz she was having was probably the cause of it. She slowly got up, still a bit unsteady, and headed back inside. She went behind the couch where she stored her bag and dug through it, searching for her emergency Tylenol. She finally found the small bottle and popped it open, taking out two tablets. She slowly tried to navigate her way into the kitchen to find some water. She let her hands lead her across the wall until she found a light switch, flipping it on. She scrunched her face as the bright lights illuminated the entire kitchen, reaching into the living room. She looked behind her to see Mulder’s body stirring a bit. She bit her lip and immediately started rustling through the cabinets. She finally found a small glass and went to the sink to fill it up with water, quickly throwing it back with the pills. 

She rushed back to the light switch and turned it off, slowly creeping back towards the couch. She jumped as she heard a whisper.

“Dana?” A hoarse voice came out.

She sighed in relief as she recognized Mulder’s voice through the dark. 

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” 

He shuffled a bit before sitting up, leaning on the arm of the couch. “No, I’ve actually been trying to fall asleep for hours now.” He said flatly.

She blinked. She couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.

“I have insomnia, don’t worry about it.” He clarified, waving his hand. 

She smiled softly and began to pad her way back to the couch, sitting cross-legged next to him. 

“So I assume you saw me sneak out into the garage?” She said quietly, trying not to wake the others up.

He nodded, “Yeah, I would’ve joined you, but I smoked one myself right before you woke up. I hear those things are bad for you, ya know?” He smirked at her.

She chuckled at this, “Well, you’re one to talk. Aren’t you trying out for the baseball team? Shouldn’t athletes, you know, not be smoking and drinking?”

He merely shrugged, “It’s one day a week, it can’t be that bad.” 

She smiled at him and leaned back, sitting next to him slowly. She could just barely feel his forearm against her back which was stretched out across the arm rest. She just wanted to curl up into him right now and go back to sleep.

“You know, you were pretty affectionate tonight.” Mulder said with a bit of playfulness in his voice. 

Her heart dropped into her stomach, and suddenly she felt nauseous. 

“Fuck.” She said simply. But he laughed in response.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t cross any lines with me. It was only with me, too, none of these other bozos got the privilege. And, to be fair, I made the first move.” He rubbed her shoulder softly as he spoke.

She looked at him now, her voice shaky, “I’m so sorry Mulder, I-“

He cut her off, “Like I said, I made the first move. We were just having a good time and I got a bit ballsy. I get like that around girls. Well, some girls, not all of them.” 

She was sucking on her lips now, unsure of what to say. Slowly the memories came back into her consciousness. Lighting her cigarette. He called her pretty at some point. Then the phone call to her mom. Laying next to him on the couch, touching him, his hands on her hips and in her hair. She gasped softly as the images slowly flooded her brain. Whatever lingering buzz she had before was gone now. 

She turned to face him rapidly, her voice shaky, her eyes beginning to water, “You probably think I’m easy now, don’t you?” She bit her bottom lip, desperately trying to prevent the tears from spilling over.

He literally pulled back, a shocked look on his face before leaning back in and embracing her tightly, “God, Dana, no, of course not. We were just having fun, and it only took a little bit of alcohol in us to approach the elephant in the room, you know?” He paused, “I mean…I don’t regret tonight if you don’t. Did I cross any lines with you?”

She took a sharp inhale, wiping at her face which was thankfully still dry, “No, no of course not. I don’t regret a thing. I just wish I had been sober to…you know…really enjoy it, I guess.” She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Well, you seemed like you were having fun, but I get where you’re coming from,” his voice was still slightly slurred, but his words seemed genuine, “I can tell you with utmost certainty I enjoyed everything. Not just the smoking and drinking, either.” He smirked at her, rubbing circles into her shoulder with his thumb now. 

This made her giggle as she leaned her legs into his. She was silent for a bit before finally speaking up.

“So…what do we do now?” She asked meekly.

“What do you mean?” He asked, pressing his head into hers.

“I mean…now that we both know we like each other, what are we going to do about it?” Her voice was barely a whisper now.

He sort of shrugged and made a face, “I mean…we don’t have to jump into things because of one night of debauchery, you know? But…maybe I can take you out sometime after school this week?” He smiled shyly at her.

She couldn’t help but return the smile, “I mean…I’ll have to ask my parents, but yeah, I think that sounds really nice.” 

She began to burrow into him now, bringing the blanket over them. She was starting to feel warm and cozy as she placed a hand on his thigh, which made him tense up. She noticed Mulder did this every time she touched him. Maybe he had been hurt in the past, by that one girl, or maybe he just did that naturally. They sat in silence for awhile, Mulder holding her close to him. It felt so natural. It felt right in every possible way. She turned to face him and slowly leaned in and kissed his cheek softly before pulling back quickly. She stared straight ahead. _Why did I do that?_

Before she could apologize for her impulsiveness she felt his hand cup the side of her face and turn her to face him. He leaned in slowly and kissed her deeply. It was like fireworks, she thought, no matter how cheesy that sounded. She opened her mouth slowly and let his tongue slide in. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as his hands settled on her waist, holding onto her tightly. He pulled away and kissed her cheek, then her jawline, slowly going down to kiss her neck where he began to suck gently. She let out the quietest moan she could muster, her eyes flashing to the other three who were still dead asleep. She felt his teeth graze her skin and she jumped, clutching to his arms. Nobody had ever done that, she didn’t even _know_ people did that. He pulled away at her movement and was grinning.

“Am I not allowed to be rough with the nice little Catholic girl?” He whispered, his breath hot against her face. 

Her face was on fire now, “I mean, by all means am I up for anything with a sinful nature,” she brushed a hand down his jawline, studying it carefully, “But I don’t know about having an audience watching us. I’d rather we continue this in a private setting later.”

He raised his eyebrows at this, pouting his lips out, “So that’s a guarantee we can pick this up another time?”

She gave him a devilish smirk now, leaning in to kiss him softly again before speaking quietly, “I’ll find a way to make it work out. But we have tonight, at least,” she paused, “But no hickeys, please. My parents will kill me.”

He chuckled at this, “I think it’s a bit too late for that,” he said before leaning in to kiss her more ravenously this time. She closed her eyes and reveled in the passion of it. He was trying to be gentle but he was pushing her hard against the arm of the couch now, practically pinning her. She licked his bottom lip playfully as she adjusted her legs a bit for more comfort. That’s when she felt a very long, hard member pressing into the crevice between her hip and her thigh. Dana’s brain short-circuited at this, unsure of what to do. 

Should she ignore it?

Should she touch it? How do you even touch it if you’ve never seen one in the flesh before?

She began to clam up, her kisses becoming less frequent. Mulder pulled back; he had clearly noticed her discomfort. 

“Sorry,” he apologized quietly, “Can I just blame hormones on this one?”

She had to cover her mouth to stop her laughter from waking everyone else in the house up. He could always make her smile, it seemed, no matter what. 

“Sure, but…I’d rather not…you know…”

“Get familiar with me under the belt on John’s mom’s couch?” 

She nodded, giggling, “Yeah, like I said, later on with more privacy.”

He groaned with melodrama bursting from his throat, “Of course, you Catholics always like to drag things on,” he looked down at her with a smirk, “Though I have heard that you spend a lot of time on your knees.”

She gasped at this, playfully punching his chest, “Fox Mulder, don’t you dare pull out the most over-used Catholic innuendo on me, I swear to God.”

“Hey!” He said, his voice still hushed, “Don’t take the lord’s name in vain.” He grinned at her playfully.

This made her roll her eyes. The number of times she had heard that exact line said in her house was probably in the triple digits by now, considering she and all of her siblings were teenagers at this point. 

“One more Catholic joke and I’ll really give you blue-balls, I can promise you that.” 

He was pouting now, giving her this A-list puppy dog look. She rolled her eyes before cupping his face. 

“Look, I’ll find some way to swing it with my parents, but we have to cool it for tonight,” she paused, looking at the window to see the sky slowly start to lighten up, “…Today.” 

He nodded in defeat, kissing her deeply one last time, his lips wet. She couldn’t help but let out a small mewl at this, his hands traveling up from her waist to her breasts. He pulled back, a concerned look on his face. 

“You actually slept with your bra on?”

She nodded, “I was pretty wasted and didn’t really think about taking it off. Besides, we have to consider the demographic here.”

He nodded in agreement before leaning down to kiss her again, giving her chest a tight squeeze. She tried desperately to hold down her moaning, pulling him closer to her. He was fully on top of her now, their limbs entangled, tongues in each other’s mouths. It was the farthest she had ever gone with a boy, and it felt exhilarating. All she would need is a bit of makeup to cover up the mark he left on her neck. They broke the kiss slowly, looking into each other’s eyes. They were silent, just studying each other’s faces with hazy eyes. She couldn’t help but appreciate his jawline, his deep eyes, even his nose was endearing. She brushed his hair back with one hand with a quiet sigh. 

They jumped in unison as they heard Ringo’s voice croak, “Will you guys just fuck already?” Dana’s knee made direct contact with Mulder’s still bulging crotch, making him groan loudly. She covered her mouth in shock, her eyes wide.

“Oh my god Mulder, I’m so, so sorry. Shit.” She rushed the words out.

Mulder rolled over onto his back with a grunt, “Sorry RIngo, that…will not be happening tonight,” He groaned, grasping at his crotch with a scrunched up face, “Jesus, you weren’t joking about the blue-balling thing.” He turned to her, forcing a pained smile. 

She gave him a nervous smile before reaching down to pick up the pack of Marlboro’s, “Cigarette for your troubles?”

He chuckled at this, taking a deep breath before sitting up slowly, wincing as he did so. She stood up and held out her hand to him, which he took and hauled himself up. He followed closely behind her into the garage as she pulled two out of the pack, handing one to him. They settled into the chairs as Mulder pulled out a lighter from his pocket, leaning over towards Dana and lighting her cigarette for her before lighting his own. They took the first inhale in sync, settling into the drifting smoke and silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Well, except maybe for Mulder, whose face still had pain painted all over it.

“I…didn’t mean to injure you.”

He chuckled at this, “It’s not a big deal, I’ve been kicked in the dick before,” he leaned his head back, calling out towards the living room, “Wouldn’t have happened if someone had just kept their mouth shut!” 

Dana shushed him, hitting his arm. She didn’t want to wake up John’s mom; they had all already pushed their limits. He looked back at her and gave her a cocky grin. 

“So,” he began, taking a drag off of his cigarette, “If I get on the baseball team does this mean I can expect you at my games?”

She smiled shyly at this, looking down in faux shyness, “Well, it would be pretty rude of me not to after what just happened in there.” 

Mulder cocked his head, feigning innocence, “Dana, what do you mean? The wonderful make out session we just had fueled by teenage hormones?” He paused, “Well…it wasn’t all hormones, if I’m being honest.”

She giggled at this, “Yeah, there were more than just hormones…” she trailed off, “So…what do we do now?” She was nervous now. Were they a thing now, or was this just a one-and-done type of deal? She was afraid to ask for specifics.

He merely shrugged in response, “Like I said, I’ll take you out sometime if your parents don’t kill me on sight. I’ll have you home by curfew. And hopefully we’ll both enjoy ourselves. Worst case scenario, you drop out because you realize how weird I am and ask to be home schooled or go back to Catholic school.”

Dana rolled her eyes, “You would really have to fuck up to make that happen. You have no idea what Catholic school is like if you think I would willingly go back there.”

Mulder merely smirked at this, taking another long drag off of his cigarette. Dana took a short puff off of hers before butting it out in the ashy tray, looking up at Mulder.

“Hey, could I get a ride home? Or are you still buzzed?” She sucked on her lips, nervous that she was maybe asking too much.

He merely nodded as he finished his cigarette, ashing it out. He then leaned back and looked right at her, a small smile painted on his face. She felt a blush creep across her cheeks, but she couldn’t help but look and smile back at him. He wasn’t any kind of magazine model, but he was attractive in this unique way. A way that made her heart skip a beat every time their eyes locked like this. 

“So you’re safe to drive?” She asked for clarification, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, totally safe. I promise you.” He reached out and grabbed her hand, holding it as he rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. 

She sucked on her lips before smiling softly at him. She couldn’t believe how sweet he was. How good he was to her despite knowing her for barely a week. Nobody had ever shown her this kind of affection, and she didn’t know what to do with it. She didn’t want to ruin it. They sat in silence for a moment, holding hands, just enjoying the presence of one another. The sunlight was slowly leaking into the small garage window, casting a bright glow on both of them. She would relish this moment forever, as insignificant as it seemed. She finally found a boy that she really, genuinely, truly wanted to give her heart to. Family and church be damned. She wasn’t going to let go of this, she decided. 

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Dana?” Mulder asked, his voice quiet.

She looked down, biting her cheek, “Just…nothing, don’t worry about it.” 

He arched an eyebrow at her, interlacing his fingers through hers, “You can’t nail a man in the balls then not spill your feelings out, that’s not how it goes. You injure him, then go on a tirade.”

She laughed at this, “And who says I’m feeling emotional?”

He smirked now, “I can tell. Don’t ask me how, I can just feel it.”

She sighed in defeat, looking back up at him, “I was just thinking about how…lucky I am to…you know.” She didn’t know or really want to finish her sentence. 

But he nodded, seeming to understand what she was unwilling to say. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her hand softly. He looked up at her with a playful, boyish gleam in his eyes.

“I’m never letting you forget tonight or today. I mean it.” He said, his eyes scanning her face.

“Yeah, neither will our friends, probably.” She sighed.

He laughed at this, pulling on her arm now, “C’mere, sit on my lap.”

She arched her eyebrow at this, “Doesn’t your crotch hurt?” 

He merely shrugged and she obliged, sliding onto his legs. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, pressing his face into her neck, taking a long breath. She placed her arms around his, soaking up his warmth as she leaned back against his chest. She wanted this to be her forever. Just Dana and Mulder in this dingy garage together. It was perfect in a weird, foreign way, and she was in love with all of it. As weird as she thought he was at first, he quickly grew on her. He had this aura about him that wasn’t cocky, it wasn’t broody, but it was sort of mellow and warm. Being around him soothed her mind, which always seemed to be going a mile a minute these days. She leaned back into him and he shifted a bit, kissing her neck softly. 

“Hey, Dana?” His voice came muffled from behind her skin.

“Yeah?”

“I’m hungry, can we go get food before I drop you off?” He nuzzled into her neck, his face warm. Her heart skipped a beat. He just asked her out on a date.

She cleared her throat at first, turning around now to lean her forehead against his, “Weren’t we going to wait to go out on a date?”

“What, am I not allowed to change my mind?” He shot back with a smirk.

She smiled back as the image of his face permanently burned itself into her brain. She couldn’t control herself as she leaned in and kissed his lips, trying to push every emotion she felt for him through her mouth. His fingers laced into her hair, holding her head in place as he leaned into her. They pulled back slowly, laughing nervously together. She was anxious because this was all new. She was nervous because she had never been kissed like she had tonight. However, all of that aside, she was feeling adventurous. She wanted him, and she was going to make it happen one way or another. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever to get out! There's not a lot of action per se in this chapter, yet it has the highest word count of any of my chapters so far I think haha. Dana is very introspective, as we all know, so I wanted to focus on her view on things as sort of a break from Mulder's POV (I predominantly write Mulder POV because it's more comfortable for me). Otherwise I hope you liked the chapter, please give some feedback! It is greatly loved and appreciated. You can also follow me on twitter @nb_baphomet to get updates/estimates on when things will be coming out, whether it be this or other works I may or may not start. Thanks! -Kelso

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously this is an AU, so age differences and whatnot are a bit warped (like Frohike being damn near the same age as the rest of them). I have this fic outlined for over 10 chapters so far, so I hope this was a good start! There will be fluff, angst, smut (that's implied/not totally explicit because they're still kids ya know?). I LOVE feedback (comments, kudos, everything), so just let me know what you think! I had a super fun time writing this and am looking forward to writing the rest. If you want, follow me on Twitter: @nb_baphomet so I can get more X-Files on my timeline. Also, Bishop Chatard is an actual private Catholic school where I'm from so I just took the name and ran with it. xoxo -Kelso


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